Catching the man who won was always going to be a tall order on Sunday, but Deon Germishuys will be very happy with his share of second in the Challenge Tour’s Hopps Open de Provence in France.
Germishuys, who took his maiden Sunshine Tour victory in the Sishen Classic back in May, closed with a four-under-par 68 at Golf International de Pont Royal in Mallemort to finish on 14-under-par together with England’s Daniel Brown. They were three strokes behind the winner, Joel Sjoholm of Sweden, who shut the door on his pursuers with a closing five-under-par 67 taking him to 17-under.
The reason Germishuys will be happy, though, is because his share of second projects him to climb to 16th place in the Challenge Tour rankings, and the top 20 on the Road to Mallorca list after the Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final will hain DP World Tour cards. He knows there is work still to be done, with two more tournaments ahead of the final event – for which he will be eligible, but the seven-place climb on the rankings was a major step for him.
Germishuys had an early wobble in his final round with a bogey on the third hole, but he followed it with an eagle on the fourth to get himself up and running. There were four birdies on the rest of his scorecard, on the seventh, 12th, 17th and 18th, with one more dropped shot on the 16th.
Another South African chasing a spot inside the top 20 of the Challenge Tour rankings is Bryce Easton, and he had a bogey-free closing round of one-under-par 71 to finish in a share of sixth on 11-under-par for the week. That will see him climb nine places to 29th on the list, and with the next two tournaments in England, where he bases himself, he’ll fancy his chances of getting inside the top 20 given his current form.
JC Ritchie was in the top 10 of the rankings, thanks to two victories in South Africa early on in the season, and slipped out for the first time to 11th after closing with a one-under-par 71 to finish in a share of 59th on two-over for the tournament. Those two wins will almost certainly ensure he gets his DP World Tour playing privileges.
